Which speaker company made great bookshelf speakers years ago? Models?

dee1949_0 · « **Reply #60 on:** 29 Jan 2013, 10:32 pm »

....anybody remember DCM speakers... Maker of the "Time Window" speakers. They made a bookshelf speaker CX-17 that still sounds great to this day.

It is a sort of coaxial setup. The bass,mid is located behind the tweeter. 92db efficient....great for T-amps. Awesome bass for a bookshelf due to design.

Google DCM. You used to be able to get them cheap on fleabay, but due to efficient drivers, price are climbing.

PS.................probably owned about 50% of the speakers listed in my lifetime. Mostly pre 80 speakers.

Still own:

DCM - CX-17 bookshelf
DCM QED - floorstanding

Maggie-MG I ---not bookshelf - still my mains

OzarkTom · « **Reply #61 on:** 30 Jan 2013, 03:25 am »

Mordaunt Short MS35TIs is my all time favorite from the 80s. These imaged as well as the Spica TC-50's did but was smoother sounding. I sold a boat-load of them back then. I was also a Spica dealer.

abernardi · « **Reply #62 on:** 30 Jan 2013, 06:47 am »

Oh gosh! FRIED Model Q, $140 a piece (or pair? Couldn't be!) Fantastic cheap 2-way bookshelf

martino3 · « **Reply #63 on:** 22 Feb 2013, 06:30 pm »

Dynaco A25, A35, A10 are all plentiful, well-made & cheap. If you prefer a more extended tweeter, try the much less common A25XL or A40XL. I'm not biased, I own all of them!

rkadams · « **Reply #64 on:** 7 Mar 2013, 02:00 am »

Rogers Ls 7
Beautifully made and never tiring to listen to.

nakko · « **Reply #65 on:** 4 May 2013, 09:04 pm »

I have a pair of Genesis 11's they are a very nice bookshelf and they had better imaging than the comparable Advents that I was auditioning. The lifetime warranty was a nice selling point, too bad they went under. I also have a pair of large bookshelf JBL's LX 88's

ltr317 · « **Reply #66 on:** 5 May 2013, 06:12 am »

Any stand speaker designed by Phil Jones, including Acoustic Energy AE1, Platinum, Soliloquy and my reference AAD 2001s. It's all there: dynamics, coherence, tonality, detail and amazing bass output for its size. Unfortunately, none of them were cheap and cheerful though the Soliloquy 5 were around $900 pair when new, and you got a lot of high end sound for that price.

ctviggen · « **Reply #67 on:** 5 May 2013, 11:48 am »

I thought the Linn Tukans were nice.

http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/679/

DS-21 · « **Reply #68 on:** 5 May 2013, 03:57 pm »

Honestly, few standmounts from years ago are that good in terms of performance, compared to the best current cheap speakers (Pioneer BS22, KEF Q100, recently-discontinued Infinity TSS4000, NHT Absolute Zero, etc.). The reasons are simple and obvious: technology (drive-units, measurement capabilities) has moved forward, and loudspeaker designers just know more now than they did then they did 20 years ago about what matters (smooth horizontal off-axis response, etc.).

There are a few exceptions. Two I can think of:

-The old Tannoy Saturn bookshelf was quite nice, as were some of their "studio monitors" of the day (System 800, System 8 NFM II). IMO, those speakers are at least equal to current Tannoys.

-The KEF RDM series were also pretty good, and distinctive-looking. (Though I'm not sure old the RDM One is the sonic equal of the current Q100. I write that as someone who owns both, but has them in different homes in different states. Maybe I should change that.)

Where older speakers may exceed the good newer cheap speakers is in the quality of finish. Real veneers of the sort that are too expensive to use on cheap speakers now. Then again, hardware seems better on current cheap speakers. Even the $70 (on sale) Pioneer BS22's have binding posts, and a lot of older speakers had cheap spring clips.

Chuckdog2005 · « **Reply #69 on:** 5 May 2013, 08:06 pm »

The most pleasing small speakers I recall owning were the Mission 717.

I also had a pair of ESS Model 10? The AMT drivers were great. I owned a lot of speakers in the 70's and early 80's.

joey116 · « **Reply #70 on:** 5 May 2013, 08:12 pm »

Linn Tukan.....still using them as surround speakers.

avahifi · « **Reply #71 on:** 5 May 2013, 10:05 pm »

My first stereo system had a pair of KLH 6 speakers driven by a pair of Dynaco MKIV mono amps and a PAS-3 preamp. The MKIV is the mono version of the ST-70 and had a bit more grunt as it had of course separate power supplies for each channel. I used these until we built our first Mos-Fet150 amp in a Dyna ST-150 chassis and stepped up to Magnapan MGII speakers. Those were the days.

My first system was mono (before stereo was invented) and had a Heathkit 7 watt integrated amp driving an Electrovoice 8" coax speaker in their Baronet small corner horn enclosure. That system lasted me from Jr. High until 1960.

I build all the electronics kits myself of course, and they all worked just fine the first time.

Frank Van Alstine

maxdtex · « **Reply #72 on:** 20 May 2013, 12:30 am »

I had some Sequerra Met 7s during the 1980s. They were wonderful small speakers (7x11x13). They are still being made.

raysracing · « **Reply #73 on:** 31 May 2013, 02:14 am »

I bought a pair of Genesis book shelves in high school and shortly after on a store demo returned them for Infinity RS-a's and cool EMIT tweeters and poly cones and regretted it forever. Those RS-a's had a huge missing mid range and no imaging compared to the smooth and beautiful imaging of the Genesis speakers (a model below the 11's pictured above).

I have a pair of Boston Acoustic A70's currently with repaired woofers that lost their charm once the woofer surrounds were replaced. I need ot let them break in some more and give them a shot against my Lores and Pioneer BS22's I am so enamored with.

krikor · « **Reply #74 on:** 31 May 2013, 12:06 pm »

Mentioned on page 1 of the thread, but I still miss my EPI 100. First pair of speakers I ever bought (actually got the 50 first and took them back a week later to upgrade to the 100). I recently salvaged a pair of tweeters from an old set and was going to build my own with woofers from humanspeakers.com but then one of the tweeters got damaged. Still thinking of trying a full kit from them.

Bostown · « **Reply #75 on:** 8 Jun 2013, 06:33 am »

Some of my favorite small bookshelf speakers:

RDL Acoustics S-1 ( Roy Allison) - the 3rd and last revision of the original Allison 6 / CD 6 design.

Paradigm Studio 20 V2. Best of the series if you ask me.

Cambridge Soundworks Ambiance - you'll need plenty of power to make them sing but they sound great.

Kef Reference 102 w / Kef Kube 102- A great pairing for Tube amp users.

Boston Acoustics A40 - they all need a re-foam by now but aside from that, they are great little monitors - I'd also say the same for the HD 5 -( again expect to re-foam the woofer).

Miller & Kreisel Bookshelf 75 - this one is a sleeper, not very common or easy to find either.

Sonus Faber Minuetto - sure you can buy 3 other sets of speakers for the price of the minuetto ( if you can find a set) but they are nothing short of incredible.

EPI M50- the "mite" - they sound bigger than they look .

Celestion SL600si - fragile metal cabinets and grill-less so they aren't safe around the kids. - They can go toe to toe with the Ls3/5a

NHT Pro A-10 monitor system. - ( comes with it's own dual mono amp and low capacitance XLR cable) - boundary control, mid /near field setting , angled baffles. NHT's best pro system ( and most reliable too - avoid the 20 stick with the 10)

lastly.. if you add a small sub like the M&K mx70 or similar. the M&K S-100b satellitesgives you all of the performance of their S-150THX at less than half the price. folks tend to dismiss the M&K line due to their connection with "home theater" make no mistake. these are right at home in a serious 2 ( ok well 2.1) channel MUSIC system. -

tull skull · « **Reply #76 on:** 17 Jun 2013, 07:04 am »

Does anyone remember "Stark Designs" speaker company? They had the rotating tweeter. My first real speaker. I read an article on them last year with enthusiasts still singing their praises. I bought my pair from "The Federated Group" in So Cal. Remember "Fred Rated"??? Wow think about it. Actual commercials on tv advertising stereo stores and gear.

DTB300 · « **Reply #77 on:** 17 Jun 2013, 02:53 pm »

Quote from: Doublej on 10 Dec 2012, 01:56 am

East Coast - EPI, AR and Burhoe Acoustics, West Coast - Infinity

I had the Burhoe Crimson - if I remember model name right. Great little bookshelf speaker, then moved up to the Burhoe Blue....(not a book shelf model)

raysracing · « **Reply #78 on:** 22 Jun 2013, 11:58 am »

regarding not being able to go back: I hooked up my Boston Acoustic A10's on a whim and disconnected them less than one song later. Just could not compete with Lore's and Pioneer BS22's on any level. Not that I would mind listening to them if they were all I had which they were for awhile.

NordicNorm · « **Reply #79 on:** 4 Jul 2013, 10:14 pm »

Yamaha NS-500M

These came with the Beryllium tweeter (but not a midrange like their big brother, the NS-1000's).

Specs:
91 dB/1 m @ 1W
100 - 200 W
40 - 20,000 Hz
30 kg. each